Dostoevsky’s final version of the character presents us with a question. As in the case of Hamlet, whose sanity is in doubt, so in the case of Myshkin. Is he mentally challenged, or not? Is he an idiot, or is he not? At times he does not appear at all as idiotic as he is made out to be. Some totally impartial and highly knowledgeable characters in the novel vouch for his unquestionable and exemplary good sense. In fact, in the end they pronounce him more level-headed than many another character who claims to be the very paragon of normality. But we soon conclude that Dostoevsky’s world is so
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